04 Nov 2015 2:09 PM |
Anonymous

The proudly Christian proprietors of the craft store chain Hobby Lobby have been under federal investigation for the past four years for illicit importation of religious artifacts and cultural antiquities from Iraq for their soon-to-open Museum of the Bible, according to a recent report by the Daily Beast.

“Is it possible that we have some illicit [artifacts]? That’s possible,” Steve Green, the CEO of the craft company, told the authors of the report.

While Green admitted that some of its ancient holdings might have been sourced illegally or sold in defiance of international standards on antiquities sales. Experts consulted by ThinkProgress said that that the Green family likely turned a blind eye towards these provisions in order to amass its holdings.

“If you’re spending millions of dollars on antiquities, you should be able to afford to have very professional investigations to establish the legality of the entire collection and if you don’t, that suggests recklessness [or] negligence at the very least,” Sam Hardy, an archeologist based at the University College of London, said in a phone interview.